Here we go again – massive government incompetence. A prestige scheme that has been criticised from the outset. Perhaps its only saving factor was the link to Manchester which could spark some knock on schemes across the North of England. It is not even certain that the London to Birmingham sector will start/finish at Euston. I suppose that a £8billion hike in costs is just too much – but I do wonder at the legitimacy of the accounting and vetting procedures. Further investigation – many industries have already invested in the expectation of the Northern link going ahead. It also seems that the north is dependant on it for future investment and growth. However it will be a joke – the London Terminal is 6 miles west of Euston whilst the Birmingham end needs a 15 minute walk from Birmingham New Street. With the old line expected to take more freight surely there is a solution to swap the lines over at some point? Can they be that far apart? No wonder the Chinese use UK infrastructure projects as examples of the failure of democracy. And they have a point. When voted on with a general cross party consensus it would surely have been pragmatic and sensible to put the funding in place for the 20 year project. Whist at it can we halt the Stonehenge Road/Tunnel scheme.
I believe the opening of CrossRail in London saw rocketing property prices – surely this should be factored into the cost so that the tax payer gets the benefit of the investment, not the property owner. Is there an opportunity for the same pay back here?
So what policies do we have from the radical reset by Sunak who attempts to forget that the problems he faces are all Tory created ones of the last 13 years. Well he may adopt the NZ situation of progressively banning smoking (although NZ has seen a growth in vaping), new A Levels But these would take several years to introduce so this is pie in the sky) and then his retrograde steps on net zero (where he might regret the obvious echo chamber used by his advisors on social media – and the Daily Express which stated how popular they were). Comments I hear are “I can’t afford an electric car” – not “I don’t want an electric car”. Sensible government policies would have led to greater affordability and a better network of chargers.
He has gone quiet on migration as all his policies have failed spectacularly through the ideological stance taken and the inhumane attempted implementation. Inflation was down last month but fuel costs are increasing again. Unemployment is rising. The National Debt increasing by 40%
So are we heading for a spring election? If he waits for the full time he will be accused of hanging on to allow the pals club to fill its boots – however an spring election will rely on him coming up with some credible policies – which seems unlikely!
an update on HS2 costs – average cost internationally for high speed traack = £32m/km HS2 =£250m/km. I wonder how much of the exxtra was appease tory voters in rich areas. A lot of the cost is the planing procedure – surely this could have been streamlined in one enquiry, and again I wonder why they did not run it along side motorways, thus avoiding the need for tunnels and deep cuttings as the scenery is already blighted?